The Midland City Council will consider an item today that dedicates $420,000 for professional design services for the Washington Aquatic Center redesign.

City staff hopes for a redesigned aquatic center on Midland’s southeast side to be ready for the summer of 2017, if funding becomes available, according to documents that are part of today’s city council meeting packet.

The council is expected to select Kimley-Horn and Associates Inc. -- a company based in Houston with offices in Lubbock, according to its website -- to perform services for the development of the plans, specifications, estimates and construction oversight of the Washington Aquatic Center. Schematic designs will be ready in April and 100 percent of construction documents will be ready in July 2016, according to Kimley-Horn’s tentative schedule regarding the project included in the agenda packet. The awarding of a construction contract could take place by September.

Basic design features are currently anticipated to include new or renovated pools, buildings, waterslides, aquatic play features, shade structures; concrete pool deck and site furnishings, lighting and electrical, pool mechanical and other typical items in swimming pool complexes of this type.

Last summer, the city unveiled a redesigned Doug Russell Aquatic Center. The community was receptive to the changes as residents endured long waits and crowded conditions. A Reporter-Telegram report last summer indicated the pool was consistently filled to capacity (between 400 and 450 depending on the number of lifeguards). The city said the cost of the Doug Russell facelift was $3.25 million. The estimated cost originally given for the Washington project was $4 million, based on the city’s experience with Doug Russell, said city spokesperson Sara Bustilloz.

The funding source for construction of a redesigned Washington Aquatic Complex has not yet been identified, Bustilloz said. It was originally presented for certificates of obligation money so that is a possibility, according to Bustilloz. She said the project would also be an acceptable use of 4B dollars under the proposed ballot language that the council could approve today for a May election. Should Midland voters approve the new 4B tax it could raise as much as $250 million over a 25-year period.

“We will not know the actual cost of construction until we receive bids and we should have a better idea once the plans and specifications are complete,” Bustilloz said.

The $420,000 for Kimley-Horn will come from the city’s unappropriated general fund balance. City officials said Monday that having plans ready to go for construction will allow the city to avoid delay if funding for construction becomes available.